The End and The Beginning
by TheFutureEmpress
Summary: Aunt Marge wasn't the only one Harry got fed up with that night. Manipulation isn't just for Slytherins anymore. Independent, but in no way cliche, Harry. Characters will be OOC. Pairings undecided. AU of PoA.
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, Harry really hated wizards.

Standing in front of the Minister of Magic himself as the man nervously twisted his bowler hat in his hands and reassured Harry that they would get him back to his Aunt and Uncle as soon as possible ("I'll have some Aurors over bright and early to take you back!"), he could easily say this was one of the those times. Harry made up his mind.

"But what if I don't want to go back?" He said with a slightly stubborn and irritated tone in his voice. The Minister looked shocked.

"Of course you want to go back! Your family loves you. Why, you're the Boy Who Lived! What will they do without you?" He said as he slowly led Harry towards the backroom of The Leaky Cauldron, all the while looking around anxiously for spectators. Harry stopped short and refused to be moved.

"I don't know, Mr. Minister, what would they do without their own personal house elf? I guess you're right, without me who would Dudley try out all his newest insults on? He came up with a particularly clever one the other day. It went something like, 'Hey, freak! Why'd your mom and dad die? Oh, right, because they couldn't stand to look at your ugly mug anymore, so got so drunk that they crashed their car!'" Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess it wasn't that clever. Best he could come up with though. Can't fault him for being an idiot, he doesn't know better. Not like you and me. We're not idiots, are we, Mr. Minister?" His voice had grown cold and soft by the end. The events of the night ran through his head, over and over again, each time leaving him a little angrier than the last. The blood pounded through his head and all he could think about was the fact that this man – this stupid, incompetent little man, the same one that somehow thought it was a good idea to pull Dumbledore from Hogwarts with a bloody giant snake on the loose turning the students into stone – was trying to send him back again. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he noticed that the room had gone dead silent, with all of the occupants of the seedy little bar focused solely on him. Fudge tittered nervously. He opened his mouth to say something that would no doubt be quite foolish when Harry cut him off.

"No, we're not. So we don't get the luxury of making mistakes. And when we inevitably make them anyway, we don't get the luxury of claiming ignorance, do we?" He didn't wait for a response, which was probably a good thing, as Fudge had just opened his mouth to protest that even smart people don't know everything (which would undoubtedly blow a very large hole in Harry's argument). Being so entranced with the scene – The Boy Who Lived speaking so boldly to the Minister of Magic and the things he was saying were enough to dislodge any normal wizard's logic – no one noticed this. "We, instead, are charged with fixing the mistakes of others, aren't we?" Fudge nodded frantically here, to appease the who, who had begun to slowly nod their agreement of this philosophy. Harry smiled and continued.

"I'm glad you'll agree. So, you'll be taking it upon yourself to fix the obvious mistake you made earlier in deciding to send me back to my relatives? Of course you will. Because, you, Mr. Minister, sir, are not a stupid man."

Fudge nodded, but it was not a frantic nod, nor was it a happy one. It was a slow, defeated nod of one who was really dreading something.

"I'm glad we agree. And, as a smart man, you are charged with fixing the mistake of the one who placed me with them in the first place, am I correct?" Fudge agreed to this as well. "Perfect. You're a good man, Mr. Minister, sir. I expect my emancipation papers by tomorrow. I'll be staying here, I think, so have Tom send them up first thing. And I'd like my vault key as well please. I believe the groundskeeper at Hogwarts has a copy. He's a nice bloke and, once you tell him about my relatives and my emancipation, I'm sure he'll have no trouble agreeing. And don't be frightened if he looks a little angry about what you tell him. It won't be directed at you. Nor will that of the Wizarding world when this inevitably appears in the papers. I'll expect they'll be quite happy with you when they hear about the steps you took to get me out of there." He stopped talking and stared at Fudge, waiting for his response. After a moment or two, Fudge took his cue.

"Oh, of course! It's such a tragedy, truly! We'll have you out of there in no time, my dear boy! You can expect of formal apology on behalf of all of the Wizarding government for not knowing about this sooner."

Things went quickly after that. Fudge departed in a rush. Harry was mobbed by witches and wizards of all ages, enquiring how he was feeling and offering their condolences towards the life he had lived. Fury gone, he was left sheepish and uncomfortable being the center of attention. He was oddly embarassed. He was not used to speaking of his life so openly or manipulating someone so easily. He didn't manipulate people often. But he was pretty good at it when he did. It was one of those slytherin qualities he tried to keep under wraps. As soon as possible, he escaped to his room.

Sitting on his bed and petting Hedwig, he pondered on what had just happened and the consequences of his actions. He couldn't think of many bad ones.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

A newspaper was lying on the desk opposite his bed when Harry woke, along with a series of papers. He glanced at the paper first, and his stomach dropped.

"Source close to Mr. Potter's relatives wishes to remain anonymous … forced to do hard labor from an early age… casual abuse for years… taunts of 'freak' … lived in cupboard under stairwell… never told of magic… no better than a muggleborn… truly tragic indeed…" He muttered aloud to himself as he read the front page article. He threw the paper across the room blindly, groaned, and collapsed back into his bed.

Harry had never met for this much to get out. He had only wished to touch upon the fact that his relatives hated him, not reveal his own angst filled back story to a public of vultures and gossip queens that made up the wizarding world. He felt another flash of the cold rage that had filled him last night, this time directed at whoever this anonymous source was.

He was a little shocked at himself. He never got mad. Well, he did, but he was pretty good at bundling it up. Maybe that little place inside himself was finally, after all these years, full. Or maybe his two outbursts yesterday had blown it apart for good. It felt good, almost, to finally feel the rage that he had been denying himself access to all these years. Unable to do anything about it now, he turned the dark, clear part of his mind towards something productive. He began to ponder how he could use this to his advantage.

He didn't have much time, however. The simmering anger was replaced by delight as both Ron and Hermione burst into his room. The Weasleys, having read the morning paper, had decided to move their school supply shopping trip up two weeks.

"Oh, Harry! Is it true?" Hermione cried, looking as if she was about to cry on his behalf. Ron stared at her, uncomfortable, before turning to Harry and giving him a worried look.

"I-I guess," He said, unsure how to explain it to his friend. "It's not as bad as the paper makes it out to be though. They didn't hit me or anything." He suddenly felt ashamed with himself for worrying them. The Dursleys seemed so long ago, all of the sudden. Standing in front of his best friends in the world with a full belly and emancipation papers on his desk, it just didn't seem to matter all that much anymore what the Dursleys did to him. Harry was a fighter. He had fought and he had won. It was time to move on to a new battle now.

Harry spent the next few minutes trying to convince Hermione and Ron of that.

"Well, if you're sure that nothin' is wrong…."Ron trailed off, looking for reassurance once again. Hermione didn't look like she was about to cry anyone, but she didn't look particularly cheerful either.

"Guys, I'm fine. Really. I don't even see what the big deal is. It's over." He said. He smiled broadly to prove there was no lasting damage on his person and that they could all go about things normally now. Ron grinned while Hermione managed a weak smile.

There was a moment of awkward silence that generally followed heart to hearts such as this before Ron suggested they all go downstairs and eat.

Breakfast was nice. Well, after he was forcefully smothered by Mrs. Weasley and was given a tearful hello when he first arrived, but after he explained that it was all No Big Deal it was. As normal as a breakfast among wizards can be, at least.

Harry spent the first twenty minutes in a delightful conversation with Mr. Weasley about just how incompetent Fudge truly was while Percy attempted to get them to stop bashing such a "noble and well respected man".

Then it turned a bit ugly.

"And here I thought those bars on your windows were just to keep the ladies away." One of the twins said, a teasing smile on his face.

"Why would he need bars? He could just hide in those overgrown clothes of his. They could send all the search parties they wanted, but his fangirls would never find him if he decided to retreat into them." The other replied.

Harry felt his face heat up as an embarrassed smile spread across his face. It was nice to be teased by the twins again.

"Fred! George! We raised you better than that!" Mrs. Weasley admonished.

"Wait, we're your sons? You could have fooled us these last few days. I'd swear before Merlin that you had disinherited all of us so you could focus solely on Perfect Prefect Percy." The first one spat back.

Mr. Weasley slammed his fist down on the table. Everyone jumped.

"Enough. Fred, George, you're we love you, but that is not the issue at hand. What you said to Harry was inappropriate and cruel."

"How is it cruel if it's the truth? We refuse to walk on eggshells around him just because of his home life. Bloody hell, it's not like it was some big secret. Anyone with eyes could have told you something wasn't right. We couldn't have been the only ones to notice the signs."

Harry was floored by this, and he wasn't the only one. Was it really that obvious? Had he been walking around with an "Abused Child" sticker on his head for the past two years? Looking down at his current apparel – an oversized grey t-shirt with numerous holes torn into it from years of wear and tear and a pair of shorts that would have given up their poor attempts at hanging from his waist years ago if not for his belt – he couldn't help but agree with them. He resolved to fix that. He wasn't some weak little child that had to deal with the Dursleys anymore and he wouldn't dress like it either.

Mrs. Weasley had a different reaction to this revelation, however. She promptly burst into tears. Mr. Weasley threw a glare at the twins.

Harry knew that the noble thing to do right now would be to comfort the woman who had been practically his foster mother for the past two years, but he really didn't want to deal with the sobbing matron, not after the morning/day/week he had been having. Ron and Hermione seemed to agree. After quick approval from Mr. Weasley, they escaped into Diagon Alley.


	3. Chapter 3

"Guys, I need some new clothes," Harry said after they had been roaming the alley aimlessly for a good half an hour, having already popped into Gringotts and gaped at the new Firebolts in Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron groaned.

"Look, I get the fact that you don't want to dress in rags anymore, but we don't have to go shopping, do we?" Ron said, his eyes pleading.

"I think it's a wonderful idea, Harry," Hermione said, while glaring at Ron. Harry was focused on something else, though.

"Are they really rags? I mean, I know they're a bit too big and I've had them a while, but are they really that bad?" Hermione looked away uncomfortably. Ron, however, looked directly at him and nodded. Harry didn't know how to feel about this. Angry, maybe, at them for never telling him. Relieved that they wouldn't lie to him - when asked directly at least. Annoyed at himself for never noticing it before.

"I guess shopping it is then." He said decisively. They began walking towards Gladrag's Wizard Wear for All Occasions when something occurred to Harry.

"Hey, how did you guys get into my room this morning? The door was locked. How did you even know that was my room?" Hermione looked sheepish.

"Well, it's not really that big of a place. It's an inn, not a hotel. There can't be more than five rooms to rent out, so we knew there weren't many places you could be. So we snuck up there. Tom was busy, and we were really worried about you. I, uh, I used this spell to track Hedwig. I read about it a few weeks ago in this fascinating text entitled _So You've Misplaced Your Dragon?_ which is all about locating lost magical pets and—"

"Hermione! Calm down, I get it. No worries. Just knock first next time, 'kay?" She nodded, blushing slightly. Ron wisely chose to stay out of the conversation and not incriminate himself as well. Something about Hermione's little speech seemed odd. "Hey, Hermione, why were you researching magical pets, anyway?"

Ron answered for her.

"Scabbers is missing. I haven't seen him for two weeks. Not since we got back from Egypt." He muttered glumly. Harry patted him on the back and promised to help him look for his missing pet, but Ron denied his help, claiming that he was an old rat and had probably just wandered off to die somewhere.

To cheer up the newly depressing mood, Harry insisted on buying ice cream for them all before the entered the clothing shop. Ron felt very glad to be poor for once after he had watched Harry get stabbed with a very sharp needle for the third time. An hour later, Harry had too many clothes to count and of all different varieties and for all different weather that fit him. Ron was feeling notably better after. Hermione suggested they go look at the magical pet shop for an owl – or something useful – for her birthday.

Arriving at the shop, they were flabbergasted by the sheer number and variety of magical animals that were there. There were scorpions that changed color from dark gray to golden brown when you looked at them out of the corner of your eye; palm sized monkeys with eyes the size of chicken eggs – which severely creeped Harry out to the point that he wouldn't go near them; housecats with three tails that shot off blue sparks were napping contentedly in a patch of sunlight in the corner; a bat hanging above his head was bigger than Hedwig; and a mouse as still and as dark as obsidian that Harry mistook it for a carving until he crept close to it and saw it's fur move gently back and forth as his breath hit it.

He called Hermione over to look at it.

"Oh, how fascinating! That's what's colloquially known as a Stone Mouse. They're very rare, as they can fade into the background almost instantaneously by going so still they appear to be made of stone. They vary based on the geology and rock types of the area. This one must be from somewhere near a volcano."

The Stone Mouse must have heard them talking, because it cracked its eye open and, upon seeing them, scurried into the shadows. Harry was mildly disappointed to see it go.

The three perused the shop for some time afterwards before leaving. Ron and Harry were empty handed. Hermione was not. She had somehow managed to find the largest, ugliest, most distasteful cat like creature she could and, being Hermione, immediately fell in love with it and purchased it without a second thought. Harry found himself to be slightly amused and slightly exasperated with his friend. Ron just eyed the creature distastefully. The cat like creature (which seemed to be named Crookshanks) seemed to return the feeling completely. Hermione giggled at their antics, which caused Ron to balk and smile shyly. Harry rolled his eyes and wondered what exactly had gotten into his friends.

Author's Note:

This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. Shopping scenes are so dull. I did my best to glaze over most of the stuff you've seen done a thousand times before.

Another deviation from canon. Yes, it was intentional. It will be the same plot (Sirius and Pettigrew), but it will not go down the same way as the books did. That's just boring.

Pairing: Thanks for the suggestions so far! Keep them coming, please! Just as a warning though: this will not be slash (I simply can't write it well), Harry/Ginny (JKR ruined it for me), or Harry/Hermione (I can't see them as more than brother and sister). Ron/Hermione will most likely be a side pairing.


End file.
